The North Complex fire decimated Berry Creek just as work was to start on forest-thinning projects

BERRY CREEK, Calif.As the smoke from the nearby fire-devastated town of Paradise cleared in 2018, local officials were trying to gain approval of forest-thinning projects to help this mountain community avoid a similar fate.
Nearly two years after they first applied for approval from the state of California, the contract for one of the projects went out for bidding on Sept. 4. At the same time, work was about to start the other after a monthslong wait caused in part by the coronavirus pandemic.
Then just four days later, the North Complex Fire roared through this community of 2,500, wiping out most of the homes and leaving at least 10 people dead, more than one-third of the total fatalities from wildfires this year in California.
I tried to work with anyone who would listen to avoid what happened, Denise Bethune, a Berry Creek fire safety coordinator, said from her sons residence in the nearby city of Chico, where she and her husband have been living since their two-bedroom home burned to the ground.
Among the factors contributing to this years exceptional wildfire season are climate change, which causes higher temperatures and longer droughts, and poor forest management, according to scientific experts. State and local governments havent done enough to thin dry brush and dead trees that burn easily around populated areas, they say.